January not only sees the most depressing month of the year because of tighter clothes and maxed credit cards but it also holds the record for most couples filing for divorce.
THOUSANDS of warring couples will have made Monday 'Divorce Monday' as their relationships hit the buffers.
Legal experts have given the first Monday of the new year the ominous nickname because it is the most popular day to file for divorce.
Marriages and relationship strains come to a head over the festive season in many households as people spend a lot of time together, highlighting problems that need addressing. The feuding couples are most likely to start conducting a divorce when children return to school after the Christmas break, which usually coincides with the first proper week of work which in turn leads to a deluge of calls to request the start of divorce proceedings.
A survey of 1,000 people conducted by us here at DivorceDepot, found the biggest marital strains over Christmas were financial pressures, excess alcohol, in-laws and other family members (17%) and arguments over domestic issues like cooking and gift buying (12%). A similar proportion of those quizzed (12 per cent) said that just the extra time spent with a partner put a strain on their relationship.
We revealed the number of online divorces increased by 35 per cent in 2013 where an estimated 25,000 Britons got divorced online last year (1 in 5), via their mobiles and tablets and is expected to rise by a similar amount in 2014.This is despite the national overall divorce rate falling by around two per cent a year to around 128,000 a year in England, Scotland and Wales.
From my point of view, online divorces are seen as simpler, faster and cheaper as they rely less on expensive lawyers, particularly as legal aid reforms introduced on April 1st last year, cut the amount of state aid available.Since then the number of online applications for divorce has risen considerably and is expected to keep increasing.
Relationship support service Relate confirmed that January was a busy time for its counsellors. Chief executive Ruth Sutherland said: "New Year is a time when many of us naturally assess how life is going and this can make people think about how their relationships are faring."